How often do you take time out, to develop original plans and ideas for your business?
I wrote a post recently, about someone who copied a chunk of this blog, to make a blog of their own; with each post attributed to them, rather than me. In the comments section of my post, someone made a good point. He said that these knock-off sites never get any PageRank or traffic.
That got me thinking.
Although originality is very highly valued, people typically find it easier and thus more attractive, to simply copy what others are doing. For example, this is why every law firm in your town seems so similar. They do what they think they are supposed to do, based on what everyone else in their profession is doing. Of course, they then simply camouflage each other and often have to compete based on fees, as they seem too alike for prospective clients to differentiate them in any other way.
With is in mind, here are a few questions to think about:
- How original are the individual services or products you offer?
- How original are the guarantees you offer to your clients?
- How original is your marketing message?
- How original is your client attrition process? (You DO HAVE a client attrition process, right?)
- How original is your blog content?
The closer you are in those areas (and others), to what your competitors are doing, the harder you will find it to grow your business and attract high quality clients!
Getting creative
In my experience, most people are massively more creative than they think they are. Although they are capable of generating some wonderfully original ideas, their lack of faith in their own creativity stops them from even getting started.
So, here’s a quick suggestion. Look at those questions I asked you a moment ago, and see if you can apply some creative thinking to any of the areas, where you are currently too similar to your competitors.
Here’s a quick tip to get the process started: Listed to your clients and monitor the threats and opportunities facing them. What kind of service could you introduce, to help them avoid the threats or benefit from the opportunities?
IMPORTANT: If you want to make more sales, boost your profits and grow an amazing business, this will help you!